Ranbir Kapoor starrer movie Shamshera which has been badly rejected by the audience and the reviewers has recorded only Rs 40.5 crores of collection in the last seven days. While the movie has been declared a flop, some experts went on to blame the pandemic for the failure along with the content and the timing of the release.
Commenting on the failure of the movie, well-known film critic Taran Adarsh said that movies like Shamshera were planned and executed for pre-pandemic audiences. He said that the audiences post-pandemic had begun craving for more content that is rooted in the Indian culture.
#Shamshera collapses… The Week 1 numbers are a shocker… Fri 10.25 cr, Sat 10.50 cr, Sun 11 cr, Mon 2.90 cr, Tue 2.40 cr, Wed 1.90 cr, Thu 1.50 cr. Total: ₹ 40.45 cr. #India biz. pic.twitter.com/kmxpgAqEFF
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) July 29, 2022
“These were pre-pandemic films that were planned and executed for the pre-pandemic audience. However, during the pandemic, the requirements from films for movie-going audiences have changed. They want content more rooted in Indian culture, wholesome entertainment films”, he said while in an exclusive conversation with Zoom Digital. He added that the movie could have done well as it starred Ranbir Singh and was directed by Karan Malhotra, the man behind Agnipath, but it did not translate into box office numbers due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Producer and film business analyst Girish Johar too blamed the pandemic for the poor performance of the movie. “Some of the biggest films got stuck in the pandemic and they are coming out now – when audience preferences have seen a shift. It was just a string of bad luck”, he said.
Shamshera’s poor performance at the box office is part of a wider story that appears to have plagued Yash Raj Films for quite some time. All the recently released YRF films including Bunty Aur Babli 2, followed by Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj, and now Shamshera have bombed at the box office.
It is notable here that Adarsh had called Shamshera “unbearable” and an “epic disappointment” in his review.
#OneWordReview…#Shamshera: UNBEARABLE.
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) July 22, 2022
Rating: ⭐️½
Brings back memories of #ThugsOfHindostan… Even #RanbirKapoor’s star-power cannot save this ship from sinking… EPIC DISAPPOINTMENT. #ShamsheraReview pic.twitter.com/lWStFFzcSX
To note, Film actor Sanjay Dutt on Thursday took to social media and said that he stands by the film Shamshera and tweeted ‘#ShamsheraIsOurs’ claiming that those who criticised the film over its Hinduphobic content are ‘spewing hatred’ on ‘one of the most hardworking and talented actors of our times’.
It is notable here that a number of Bollywood movies have flopped in recent months while South Indian movies like RRR, Pushpa and KGF-2 have been superhits all over India.
Shamshera has been on the receiving end of criticism not only from apolitical mainstream film critics who have given it a low rating and even called it unbearable but even an average movie-going audience seems to be unhappy with the storyline. Shamshera portrays the villain, played by Sanjay Dutt (Shuddh Singh) as a devout Hindu and a ruthless barbarian. He is shown in the film as a devout Hindu with a Shikha and a Tripund Teeka. His character is named Shudh Singh, a brutal authoritarian general who has imprisoned and enslaved a warrior tribe.
Shamshera was released in cinemas on July 22 with a lot of expectations. Sadly, the big-budget action entertainer starring Ranbir Kapoor and produced by Yash Raj Films (YRF) failed to pull significant crowds. With less than Rs 40 crore in seven days’ worth of box office revenue, Shamshera, a movie with a huge budget of Rs 150 crore, has decisively been rejected by fans, putting YRF under a lot of strain. The film’s script has also been criticized by viewers and reviewers for its weak content with many saying the storyline has no point.
